G and I installed (our Kickstarter purchased) Canary Home Security System today and we’re impressed. Easy to set up and an incredibly elegant user experience all around. It alerts us if there is motion detected in our home and lets us monitor air quality, temperature and humidity using internal sensors. Impressive!

It allows you to explore four unique homes around the world, from NYC to Mongolia. Wander in, cook, and play. You can investigate the utilities but watch out for wires spark and tubs overflowing…

The best part, you’re totally allowed to make a mess! Or clean up, with help from a curious cat. What I love the most is that you can personalize each space with your photos and drawings; see yourself in mirrors.

Kangaroo Light is a portable, playful and flexible lighting product. It was originally designed to fit inside your bag so you can easily locate your belongings, but I think I could find lots of other fun uses for it. I just want to play with it… Two thumbs up!

I am so incredibly excited for my friends at Tinybop: They just released their second iOS app called Plants, a vibrant, interactive diorama of the world’s biomes!

Plants is the second app in Tinybop’s Explorer’s Library. The first, The Human Body, reached the #1 spot on the App Store’s education charts in 143 countries and was named one of the App Store’s Best of 2013. Like the Human Body, Plants is a slow-play app which aims to help kids make connections about the world and prompt big questions. Can’t wait to explore it tonight with my kids!

My kids *love* taking photos with my iphone, which results in thousands of shots cluttering up my library. KidCam is about to solve that. It’s a brand new photo app for kids that limits the number of photos and videos your kids can take. After the limit is reached, the oldest photo or video will be deleted to make room for any newly snapped photos or videos. But the best part is that it keeps a separate photo roll/library. And as for younger kids tapping a shutter button can be difficult, KidCam gives you the option to tap anywhere on the screen to snap a photo or record a video. And, my son of course, is mostly excited about the monster overlays!

I have been trying to change up my daily routines a bit and form new habits. So, when Jessica told me about Habit List last night I made sure to download it asap. It looks just like the app I’ve been waiting for to help me stay focused and on track with my new daily goals. It’s the little things that make a big difference, isn’t it?

The Spencer Leather Sleeve for the iPad Mini is a beauty. Winter Session hand-finishes each product in Denver and sources sources the vegetable-tanned leather from the Horween Tannery in Chicago. It’s also available for the big iPad.

(Love Zady’s mission. Zady aims to combat the fast-fashion craze by providing a platform for only those companies that care about timeless style and solid construction.)

Do you consider yourself a nostalgic radio buff? Then this iPhone Radio Dock is for you. It comes with a downloadable public radio app, which finds up to seven public radio stations within a 50-mile radius. You might want to know that the dock utilizes your phone’s built-in speakers, so, it’s really just an adorable, wooden iPhone holder. Made me smile nonetheless.

Nothing gets me more excited than watching friends going from telling me about an app idea to launching it. My studiomate Raul and his Tinybop Team have been hard at work and are about to launch a series of educational apps, the first one is simply called The Human Body. The app, designed by no other than super-talented Kelli Anderson, allows kids to explore and interact with the human body, teaching them what we’re made of. The app is about to be released in 48 languages around the world and I am certain it will make huge waves.

I’ve had many conversations with Raul about what we consider a successful kids app. While we of course agree on smart interactions, beautiful design and all, we also agree that kids should be never exposed to touts for in-app purchases or any other kind of advertising. Raul promised that kids will neve be exposed to any of that in any Tinybop app. This deserves a YAY!

Get a sneak peek of the app on their brand new site and sign up for their newsletter to be the first to know when the app is ready to play.